Outstanding Tech Entrepreneurship Award: Recognising Builders Driving Real Enterprise Progress

Across Nigeria’s evolving business and technology ecosystem, progress is often driven by entrepreneurs who focus less on spectacle and more on substance. The Outstanding Tech Entrepreneurship Award, presented at the National Entrepreneurship Honors (NEH), exists to recognise individuals whose work demonstrates depth, consistency, and measurable contribution to enterprise development through technology.

This award celebrates entrepreneurs who build with context and consequence in mind. Recipients are distinguished not simply by the products they launch, but by the systems they establish, the problems they simplify, and the durability of the solutions they introduce into the market. The focus is on technology as an enabler of enterprise strength, operational clarity, and long-term economic participation.

The NEH evaluation process for this category is intentionally rigorous. Nominees are assessed across multiple dimensions, including the practicality of their innovation, the strength of execution, the relevance of their solutions to real market needs, and their broader contribution to entrepreneurial growth within Nigeria. Judges look beyond vision to evidence — how ideas perform under pressure, adapt to change, and remain useful as businesses scale.

Over the years, recipients of this award have demonstrated a shared commitment to building solutions that work in practice, not just in theory. Their ventures tend to prioritise reliability over novelty, clarity over complexity, and long-term value over rapid attention. In doing so, they contribute to a more resilient and inclusive entrepreneurial landscape.

The Outstanding Tech Entrepreneurship Award stands as a mark of respect within Nigeria’s business and technology community. It signals recognition for entrepreneurs whose work strengthens the foundations of enterprise and whose influence extends beyond individual success to ecosystem-wide progress.

Past Honorees Include:

• Oritsetimeyin Okotigor (2024)
• Ifeanyi Balogun (2023)
• Sadiya Lawal (2022)
• Chukwudi Nnamani (2021)
• Adekunle Arowolo (2020)
• Zainab Musa (2019)
• Kolade Ogunleye (2018)

As the National Entrepreneurship Honors continues to spotlight excellence, this category reinforces a clear message: meaningful innovation is defined not by how loudly it is announced, but by how effectively it supports businesses, adapts to reality, and endures over time.